Consistency builds trust, and a style guide makes it easier.
Direct answer
A writing style guide sets your team's voice, preferred words, formatting rules and examples. Keep it short, show good and bad examples and update it as you learn. Make it easy to find and use.
What to include
- Voice: friendly, direct, plain.
- Word list: terms to use and avoid.
- Formatting: headings, dates, numbers, capitalisation.
- Examples: before and after.
- Checklist: a quick final check.
Example entries
| Instead of | Write |
|---|---|
| utilise | use |
| customers (not "users") | customers |
| ASAP | give a date |
Where Teyro fits
Teyro's Clear Writing at Work course turns this into short lessons you can play in a few minutes a day. It has 50 lessons, and you can start free.
The bottom line
A page that people use beats a book that nobody reads.
